


Wings

by Dragonsjustice



Series: All of Your Faves are Queer-Seriously, All of Them [4]
Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Babies, Coming Out, F/M, Gen, M'gann is nonbinary, Nonbinary Character, Roy and Wally are good big bros, Team Bonding, Trans Dick Grayson, Trans Male Character, not literally though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-05
Updated: 2016-01-05
Packaged: 2018-05-06 21:19:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5431094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragonsjustice/pseuds/Dragonsjustice
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dick Grayson comes out to a surprising amount of people. It goes better than expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wings

**Author's Note:**

> Periods play an important role in one of the chapters. Don't read if that squicks you out. Oh, and I don't know about anybody else, but when I get cramps (TMI Alert, I know) it hurts even more whenever anybody touches my stomach at all. Using those 'rules' for this fic. 
> 
> I don't know the name of Robin's grandfather, so I'm just going to pretend that it's Richard, okay?
> 
> Anything that I say that is offensive was not my intention-I'm genderfluid, and I would never say something purposefully transphobic or homophobic for any reason whatsoever.

**Wally**

Wally wasn't like the rest of the team-he had always known.

They met when they were both kids. Robin was nine, having just started the sidekick gig, and Wally was eleven. It had been on the fifth mission that they'd been on together, but Wally had still been to the Batcave. Blindfolded, of course, and he didn't know Robin's identity (even though he'd already told the younger protégé his), but they had still spent time together outside of missions before the day that he corrected him for the first time.

Wally hadn't even asked questions, just apologized a few times with a voice filled with embarrassment while blushing down to the roots of his ginger hair.

It was one of the reasons why he cared about him so much.

But then Wally had done him one better.

He'd given him a new name, one better than his deadname.

Well, kind of. Bruce and Alfred were already helping him think about names, but none of them had felt right. 'Robin' was the only one that he felt any real attachment to, but he couldn't use that one without exposing his secret identity to the world. So the two just called him by that name (or any other nickname based off of it) in private, when there was nobody else in the house but them. But they still bounced names off of each other, ones that were  _good_ but didn't feel quite right. They could have just gone with something common and generic, but Robin was leaning more towards something that would help him keep alive the memories of his parents and family.

Something like John for his father, or George for his uncle.

So when Wally came over (after much needling from Robin of Bruce, who didn't want to allow the hyper speedster anywhere near the Batcave or the manor), he immediately made it his duty not to leave until Robin had a name for public appearances as the ward of Bruce Wayne.

Of course, he couldn't exactly  _tell_ Wally what his identity was, but assumed that he would know when the announcement came on TV, because it had always been a fact that they would need to tell the public. There would be backlash-of  _course_ there would be backlash-but it would cool down eventually, right?

The minute that Robin told the young speedster, while hanging upside-down from the rings in one part of the Batcave that Bruce had purchased for him, that he was looking for a name that helped him remember his family (which Wally knew was dead, but not how or why or anything other than the fact that they _were_ dead), Wally had suggested going with the name of his grandfather or uncle.

"No, I don't want to use my uncle's name-he's always kinda weirded me out."

"Grandfather, then. Or-were any of your cousins boys?"

"Who names someone after their cousin?" Robin asked playfully.

Wally gasped and clutched at his chest. "I'll have you know that some cousins have really cool names."

Robin snickered and jumped neatly off of the rings, grabbing a water bottle. The stood in silence for a while before Robin spoke up. "You know, Mama used to tell me that if I had been born a boy"-he lowered his gaze down to the floor, and Wally straightened up-"that they would have named me Richard after my _b_ _unicul-_ grandfather," he added, remembering that not everybody knew Romani. 

"Richard," Wally mused. "I like it. Plus"-he grinned, because he _was_ an immature eleven year old, and most people who saw them in public in their hero identities thought that the smaller boy was actually somehow older-"then I get to call you Dick."

The nine year old smiled at his friend for a moment while rolling his eyes (he wasn't _nearly_ as immature as Wally was, despite bing younger by two and a half years) before it faded. "Why are you helping me with this?"

"Are you serious? Dude, you're my best friend. Of course I'm gonna help you out. I'm not a dick." Wally leaned forward as Robin took a sip of water. "But you are."

Robin spat out the water in his mouth.

 

** Conner **

Robin doesn't shower with the other boys.

He's been naked in front of Wally before, but it wasn't for very long, and the older teenager understands why he doesn't want to be naked in front of other people.

But Conner is less than a year old-even though he has the body and mental prowess of a teen, he's really just a baby. He knows _what_ things are, but not _how_ or  _why_ they happen. So it's hard to explain some things to him. What may seem obvious to most people is completely baffling to him.

Robin couldn't say that he was surprised when Conner cornered him after a training exercise and asked him why he never showered with them. It had been even more awkward than the time that he walked naked down the hallway because he had no idea about social cues and then was immediately confused by the fact that Wally had a bellybutton and he didn’t. At least that time Robin wasn't actually the one answering the awkward questions.

"I just need to be alone sometimes, you know?" He said, dodging the question. "I like my privacy."

Conner tilted his head. "Why?"

Oh god, he wished Dinah was there. "It's complicated."

"Does Wally know why?" The clone asked.

"Er yeah, why?"

Conner marched off, looking determined.

When he came back, he said that Wally told him that it wasn't his business.

"It's really not," Robin agreed, and left it at that.

He had hoped that it would be the end of it, but that incident turned out to contribute to Conner's conclusion a few weeks later.

It was a simple recon mission (but when had they ever been 'simple recon missions'), and Robin caught caught up in some crossfire. His side was grazed-not to badly (he'd had much worse in the past) but enough to bleed quite a bit.

Conner stared at it. "You're bleeding!"

"I noticed," Robin said through the pain.

He didn't expect the clone's hand to place itself firmly on the wound as M'gann called the Bioship down to their location to get him out of the field.

Conner stared down at Robin's chest, and Batman's protégé had never had such mixed feelings about having small breasts, even for his age. Pros-he didn't need a binder, and because his suit was unisex and also tight but not too constricting, they didn’t show through. Cons-they were pretty much immediately obvious to anyone who touched his chest and felt them give. Not that he usually let people touch his chest, but still.

"You're a girl?" Conner asked, looking confused. "Is that why you never shower with us?"

Robin cringed. "I'm not a girl."

"Oh." He looked so confused. "Then why do you have breasts?"

Of course CADMUS didn't tell him about stuff like this. Of-freaking-course.

"That doesn't mean that I'm a girl," Robin said, trying to explain it in a way that the clone would understand. Okay, he could do this. Simple terms, without bringing up stuff like transphobia and other genders outside of 'male' and 'female.' "It's like... If you got stuck in a girl's body, would you be a boy or a girl?"

"A... Boy?" Conner replied, even though it sounded more like a question.

"Right," Robin affirmed with a nod. "So even though I look like  _this"_ -Robin barely managed to hide his disgust-"I'm still a boy."

"Oh." Conner paused. "Did a villain do this to you?"

Robin let out a weak laugh. "No, some people are born like this. It kinda sucks."

_That's an understatement._

"Alright. Does everybody else know?"

"Nope, just Wally." _And Roy._ "Please don't tell anybody else, though."

"Okay."

It had gone better than expected, at least.

 

**Artemis**

He should have known better than to come in to the Cave today.

Despite being full of Alfred's tea and some very good painkillers (as well as the chocolate that Wally had lying around-he wouldn't miss it, and besides, he usually gave it to Robin anyways on days like this), Robin's intestines still felt like he had decided to swallow lava and it was now being ripped out of him one second at a time.

And it doesn't help that every day that he's like this is just another painful reminder of how _wrong_ he is, how wrong he _feels_.

Artemis leaned down over the back of the couch that he was lying on in a pathetic heap of pain. "Are you okay? You've been like this all morning."

"I'm fine," Robin answered through gritted teeth.

"Well, then do you wanna spar?" 

No, he did _not_ want to spar, because he feels like he is dying a slow and painful death, thankyouverymuch.

"Sure."

He stood up on ever-so-slightly shaky legs and walked down the hallways to the training room with Artemis beside him. 

"If you're sick, or something, we don't have to spar," she said as a bout of nausea rolled over him and his fingers tightened on the wall of the tunnel.

"I'm up for it. I'm fine." _I need practice for when I'm older. Crime won't stop once a month just because I have my period._

Artemis didn't argue as they took their ready positions across from each other. She attacked first, jabbing at his.head with her right hand. He parried and used her momentum against her, although she quickly regained her balance and nimbly kicked at his legs. 

They went on like that for a few minutes longer, silent except for their breathing, which grew steadily more and more laboured. They were more evenly matched than usual, although Artemis had the upper hand-on normal days, Robin could take out every member of the team. But now he had a handicap, and she was using that to its fullest.

Until she scored a lucky hit on the younger boy's stomach.

Pain shot through his body, and Robin was vaguely aware that his legs were now refusing to support him. Artemis packed quite a punch, and he was feeling had immense strength (for a human) first hand. 

"Are you okay?!" She dropped down beside him. "Seriously, if you're sick, we shouldn't be doing this."

"I'm _fine,"_ he growled, springing to his feet and lunging at her head. She ducked and feinted left, sending a punch at his right cheek. Robin swallowed down the pain in his abdomen. He could do this. Artemis wasn't  _nearly_ as powerful as some of the other people that he'd fought on days like this. Crime didn't stop because he wanted it to.

He won, but it was easy to see why.

"You're holding back," he pointed out.

"You're sick," Artemis said, crossing her arms and glaring at him. "I'd win no matter what."

Robin kicked the ground and glared at nothing in particular. He felt as if he had swallowed several sharp rocks, all of which were now lodged in his intestines. At least it was a step up from fire. Sort of.

Artemis frowned. "Look, if you're feeling better later, then it would be a fair fight. But right now, you need to rest."

Robin's shoulders slumped. He couldn't really argue with her when all he wanted to do was curl up somewhere and watch TV or read a book. "Fine... But you won't be able to get out of it later, when I feel better!"

"You're on, bird boy," she agreed as he walked over to the open floorspace and sat down on the ground. "Do you want to watch me kick Wally's butt later?"

He snickered. "Sure."

To his surprise, Artemis came and sat down beside him. "You know," she said after a moment of comfortable silence, "I'm pretty sure that I have a spare hot water bottle somewhere. Do you want it?"

Robin blinked at her. "Huh?"

"A hot water bottle, Birdbrain," she repeated. "For your stomach. I've also got some Advil if you need it. Oh, and I can get M'gann to buy chocolate next time she goes out."

He can talk to her about the rest of it later-like how she knew, and who not to tell, and everything like that. But right then, Artemis was offering him a hot water bottle and painkillers, and that's really all that he wanted at that moment, so he let it slide. Only for a little while, though.

They'll had to talk about it soon, which went better than anticipated. Artemis was good about it.

First, though, he wanted that water bottle.

 

**Kaldur'ahm**

**(Pre-Artemis)**

For Kaldur, he _actually_ came out. On his own terms and everything. It was mostly for the purpose of making sure that the Atlantean knows his limits, the stuff that he isn't willing to do. Kaldur is their leader, after all. And even though Robin may be used to there only being one other person beside him, Kaldur was already someone that he respected-they'd known each other before, and he could be a powerful ally.

"Thank you for telling me, but I am afraid that I do not understand," Kaldur said with a small frown. Robin's heart skipped a beat. "People... Some people do not like this?"

Robin let out a small sigh of relief. "Yeah, although some of them are good about it. Like Wally and Roy-they're great. Uh, and Conner knows too."

Kaldur nodded. "Ah. On Atlantis, my people do not care about the physical attributes of gender. Instead, they see what in on the inside."

"Sometimes I wish earth was like that," Robin muttered honestly, thinking about every single rude word, unkind action, and prejudiced person that he had ever met, as well as the things that he had absorbed from the rest of the world _(one in twelve chance of being murdered, 41% commit suicide-)_. 

"Me too, my friend. I think that it would be better that way."

 

**Roy (Clone)**

 

Roy was less of a 'coming out' thing and more of a 'we patch each other up a lot and so it was kind of necessary information to know.' Roy was cool about it. He may not have entirely understood the concept, but he never stopped using Robin's proper pronouns. Although he did ask several rather uncomfortable questions about it-apparently, Ollie was not very good at explaining the way that things like this worked. It had been  _really_ awkward for a while, though it did get more normal eventually (mostly because of Dinah's help, because the woman _was_ a therapist, something that he thanked whatever deity made his life  _that much more_ interesting for on what was often a day-to-day basis). Well, as normal as it could be when you and your friends were all superhero sidekicks, one of whom could reach near-sonic-barrier-breaking speeds in his sneakers.

But now he had another defense against anybody who saw him getting... Less than savory attention at things like charity balls and galas. Before he broke away from Ollie, Roy was often forced to come with him, but now that he was his own hero, Robin had just assumed that he wasn't going to be coming anymore.

So he'd been a bit surprised when he spotted the redheaded teenager (legally an adult now-when had _that_ happened?) leaning against one of the fancy walls of Wayne Manor, with an incredibly bored expression on his face. Robin was beside him in an instant, leaving the woman who was about to bend over to talk to him and probably be very rude while she was at it talking to empty air instead.

"What are you doing here?"

"Keeping an eye on you. I was going to come anyways, but Dinah is the one keeping Oliver distracted." He nodded to where the bond metahuman woman was talking to her boyfriend, keeping him occupied. And, conveniently, also keeping him facing  _away_ from where Roy was standing. "She saw me the minute I walked in. I'm just surprised that he didn't bring his new kid."

Robin rolled his eyes. Roy was never going to let that go, was he? "Artemis isn't that bad, you know. She's a good archer, and a good hero. You'd like her if you actually took the chance to get to know her."

"What about the potential mole in your team?" Roy countered. "She's your prime suspect."

"Conner or M'gann could also be the mole, one of them without even knowing it. But they're good people, and they've had multiple opportunities to betray us while on missions or just at the Cave. And they haven't yet. Besides, isn't it pretty much decided that Red Tornado was the mole all along? I mean, he _did_  try to kill everyone."

"Maybe. I'm not so sure." Roy looked at the assembly of rich people, with a hint of distain. He looked back at Robin. "Do they know about..."

"Artemis, Conner, Kaldur, and Wally all do, and I think that M'gann does, but I haven't actually  _told_ her yet."

"Well, good luck."

"Thanks. And, Roy? There will  _always_ be a place for you on the Team, if you ever want to claim it."

 

** M'gann **

 

M'gann approached him before he could tell her properly. He had had his suspicions that she knew-she'd probably seen several odd memories when reconstructing their minds in Bialya, despite her promise to only take what she needed. M'gann was a strong telepath, after all, something that was clearly shown by what had happened in the mental training exercise (the one that had all gone so,  _so_ wrong), and it was in her nature to be curious. One small detour, and suddenly she could know more about someone than they knew about themselves.

 _'Robin?'_ Her voice spoke quietly in his head.  _'Can I talk to you?'_

_'Sure. Where are you?'_

_'In the kitchen. I'm trying out a new recipe.'_

As he headed to the kitchen, Robin briefly paused to watch Artemis slam Wally into the floor. She almost always beat him, and if she didn't than you knew that something was up. It was better to be beaten immediately than to have your humiliation drawn out.

"Hey, M'gann. What's going on?" Just because he had a pretty good idea didn't mean that he wasn't going to ask.

She looked at her hands and rubbed her shoulders. "What's the difference between being a boy and being a girl?"

Okay, this might be harder than he thought. "Well, a boy is someone who says that they're a boy, and a girl is someone who says that they're a girl. For some people it's really important that they be one and not the other, for some people they switch, and some people are neither. They're both on the gender spectrum, and boys are typically allowed to do more things than girls and there are also a lot of stereotypes. Does... Does that help at all?"

He had never been very good at explaining stuff like this, and it was even harder because she was an alien.

"I guess..." M'gann frowned slightly. For most people that wouldn't have been much of a red flag, but M'gann never frowned. She was smily and happy, an excellent balance to Conner's anger, Artemis's fire, Wally's flirtatious nature, and Kaldur's calmness.

"Why did you ask?"

"I was looking in your mind and I found some words. I just... Wanted to know what the meant, and that seemed like a good place to start."

So she  _had_ looked there. "What were they? Maybe I can explain them. You could have just asked me."

"But isn't it rude to look into people's minds?" M'gann bit her lower lip.

"Yeah, but since you did, the least I can do is help you understand. Just don't do it again, okay?"

She nodded. "Alright. Um, I know I wrote them down somewhere..."

As the Martian rooted around in the drawers and cupboards that really didn’t serve very much purpose other than making hide and seek easier for him ("It's stealth training, KF!" 

"You only say that because you always win, ninja boy!"), Robin watched the way that she looked at him out of the corner of her eye. 

He sighed. "Just say them out loud. If you don't know how to pronounce it, make something up. That's what I do."

M'gann took a deep breath. "What does 'transgender' mean?"

That one was easy enough to answer. "Someone who doesn't identify as the sex that they were born with."

"Is that... Is that what you are?"

He nodded.

"Oh. There's something similar on Mars, but we don't really have 'boys' and 'girls.' There's words for the things like them, but... Gender is different for us."

"Explain it to me," Robin said, leaning forwards. 

The next half hour was spent on a crash course in Martian biology and psychology, or at least what little about the subjects M'gann knew. She was better at biology, so he learned a great deal more about the  _physical_ attributes of gender and not the mental ones, but it was still interesting. But the basic idea was actually a question for him.

"Do you know any words for what I am? Earth ones, I mean."

"Hmm..." Robin turned it over in his head. "I think that, for what you're describing, nonbinary would be the best word. That means someone who identifies outside of the gender binary, by the way."

"Nonbinary," M'gann said softly, turning it over on her tongue. She smiled at him. "Thank you."

"That's what friends are for. And if you realize that it's not right for you, then I can help you out again in finding a new word."

M'gann wouldn't stop smiling for the rest of the day, even more so than usual.

* * *

 

Okay, so sometimes coming out sucked. Sometimes it hurt, a lot. But he was lucky enough to have people who would always have his back, now matter what. 

And really, what else could you ask for?

 


End file.
